Takayanagi Akane was out taking pictures. Her favorite hobby, as well as her job, now she’s an official photographer. Now that she had graduated from the group, she took more time in enjoying the rest of her life. Taking care of her birds, enjoying her work, and also…

“Daichi!” She called for her husband. “Come here! I want you for this shot!”

“Eh? Me?”

“Come on~ Stand here,” she took her husband’s hand and dragged him to the center of the backdrop she had put. “Trust me, you’ll look amazing.”

“Alright, but make it quick, Akane, I’ve got work in 15 minutes.”

“I’ll try to.”

Akane readied her camera and started taking several shots of her husband. Daichi wasn’t all too sure what to do at first, but after Akane told him just to be casual, he became a bit more relaxed.

“Ooh~ these are really good!”

As for his work, Daichi was your average office worker. His pay was high enough to secure them a home, as well as to spoil his wife.

“Yosh! Perfect!”

“Are you going to use it for the article?” Daichi asked.

“Nope. Just wanted some shots of my handsome hubby.” Akane snickered.

“I’m flattered~ But I’m not as beautiful as my bird loving wife~”

“Aww~”

“Anyway, I’ll be off to work now.”

They kissed for a short moment before he left, on his way. Akane simply smiled and headed the opposite direction, looking through her photos and giggling at her husband’s photos.

When she looked up, she then saw a beautiful sight of the park, the cherry blossom trees blooming. She felt relaxed at the sight and took a few photos, admiring the beauty. As she was looking, she didn’t notice a certain someone come from behind and cover her eyes.

“Guess who~?”

Akane recognized the voice and grinned.

“Airin~”

“Yup!” Furukawa Airi, a growing artist, took her hands off Akane’s face. “Hisashiburi.”

“What brings you here?”

“I just wanted to do something with my bird loving friend~”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Hai.” Here, Airi took out two bentos. “Picnic in the park, underneath the cherry blossoms, sound good to you?”

“Sounds alright to me.”

“Alright. Let’s go then.”

The two found a bench under one of the cherry trees to sit down in. Airi gave her one of the bentos and started to open up hers. Akane opened hers up and saw how it was beautifully made. The omelette even had a heart drawn in ketchup.

“How’s your career going?” Akane asked.

“It’s not that bad. I’ve got a few recommendations to finish, but other than that, I’m not doing too much.”

“It’s good that you’re at least still involved with manga.”

“Yeah, it is, huh? I mean, Maimai’s going somewhat in the same direction. I’m expecting a collaboration soon.”

Akane chuckled. “Figures she’d get involved with that.”

Airi munched on some of her rice, then asked, “How ‘bout you? How’s photography doing?”

“It’s not that bad either. I’ve done some family portraits, some photos for some magazine articles and well, I’m just out and about.”

“Have you done anything for SKE?”

Akane took a bite of an octopus shaped hot dog while thinking.

“Hmm… recently, there was one photoshoot I did. It was for Jurina.”

Airi smiled. “How is she doing?”

“Good. But she still misses Rena.”

“I can understand.”

“That girl, she really cares about her.”

“‘Cares’ is an understatement.”

At that comment, the two laughed.

Then, Akane looked out and saw a young woman standing out in the park, looking at the cherry blossom trees.

“Uwaa~ kirei,” she said. She quickly seized the opportunity and got out her camera, taking a shot. She looked at the photo and stared amazed. “Wow~ that looks amazing!”

“Who is that?” Airi said, seeing as how the girl was far away, her back facing them, so they couldn’t see who it was.

“I dunno, but I’m gonna see if she wants to be my next model!” Akane started running towards the woman, Airi following behind. “Excuse me! Miss!”

“Huh?”

When the woman turned to face them, it turned out to be none other than Rena.

Akane’s eyes teared up. She hugged Rena tightly and started bawling, startling the latter. Airi did the same and hugged Rena. The woman just stood confused. She had no idea who these two were, but she figured that they knew who she was, and she did feel something nostalgic from the two hugging her.

“Rena! You’re back!”

“We missed you so much!”

“H-How do you know who I am?” Rena then asked.

“Eh..?” The two then separated from the hug, looking at Rena’s confused and startled expression.

“I’m sorry… but, if I do know the two of you, I don’t quite remember at the moment.”

Akane then asked. “Why..?”

“I was in an accident half a year ago. I can’t remember anything before then.”

Both of them stood in shock. It was then the two finally knew what had happened, why Rena disappeared from social media after she went to England. Something bad happened to her, and now, she doesn’t even remember who she used to be.

“This is terrible…”

“How are we going to tell Jurina?” Airi asked her friend.

Hearing this, Rena’s eyes widened. “Jurina?!”

The two jumped a bit at Rena’s raised voice.

“You both know Jurina? Can you take me to her?”

“Wait, you remember Jurina?!” Akane asked.

“Yes! She was the first person.. no, the first memory I ever recalled! I came here so I can find her, so she can remind me who I am.”

“Then, if it helps you remember us, we’ll help you find Jurina.” Airi said. “Akane, let’s head to the theatre, maybe she’s there.”

“Alright!”

--------------------------

After some walking, the three finally arrived at the SKE theatre. As Airi had predicted, Jurina was standing on the stage, practicing some dances for an upcoming stage. Rena couldn’t contain her emotion when she saw Jurina for the first time (yet it felt like forever).

“Jurina!” she called out.

Jurina immediately stopped, her eyes widened. She turned around and saw Rena, after years she had been gone.

“Rena..?!”

Without a moment to spare, the two ran up to each other and embraced tightly. Jurina was crying in Rena’s chest, Rena crying as she held the girl’s head.

“Rena, I missed you! You have no idea how long I waited for you! It was so crazy lonely without you!”

“Jurina… I…” Rena parted from the hug, giving the girl a smile as she parted from her. She wiped off her tears and continued, “I’m so happy… I finally found you.”

“Jurina, she doesn’t remember anything, or anyone but you,” Akane explained, “Half a year ago, she was in an accident and now, the only memory she knows about is you. She doesn’t remember me, or Airi, or anything else.”

Jurina looked at Rena. “Is this true..?”

Rena nodded.

Akane continued to explain, “When me and Airi were in the park, she explained that she wanted to see you so she could remember us, remember everything again.”

“So, Rena, do you remember this place?”

“I don’t know, it feels so familiar…”

“Come here,” Jurina pulled her along to the stage. “This stage, we used to perform on it together, for a long time.”

Rena touched the stage with her hand. She looked at the empty stage for a moment before she finally felt she remembered something. She saw a group of girls on the stage, performing with smiles on their faces. Front and center was, of course, herself and Jurina. Rena smiled.

“I think.. I’m starting to remember.”

“What do you remember?”

“I remember… being here. With many other people,” Rena turned to look at Airi and Akane. “You both were here as well, weren’t you?”

“Sometimes you couldn’t even look at them, you’d think they’re so cute,” Haruka also mentioned.

“Oh my word, how embarrassing!” Rena covered her mouth.

“Don’t be,” Airi said. “You’re an otaku.”

“Otaku?”

“It means you like idols and anime and things of that nature.”

“Like this dork over here,” Akane said as she nudged Airi with her elbow.

“Oh, oh, oh!” Rara raised her hand. “And, you’re a train fanatic!”

“Ah, right! Rena-san would always get so excited when you talked about trains!” Ego-chan agreed.

Rena smiled. “Oh yeah. I remember that!”

“You do?”

“Yeah. In England, I saw some scale model trains running on train tracks. I also remember reading a book on steam trains. It was the most interesting thing. I thought, ‘I must like trains’. So, it’s true!”

“Un! 100 percent!”

“This is good, let’s keep going! Who’ll go next?”

“I’ll go!” Rion said as she raised her hand, “The name’s Azuma Rion and I’ve known that you always loved eating melonpan!”

“Melonpan?”

“It’s your favorite food!”

“Here!” Ryouha held up a melonpan wrapped in a plastic wrapping. “This. This is melonpan.”

“Eat it.”

Rena opened the plastic wrapping and took the soft, round bread out, staring at it for a moment. Then, she brought it up to her lips and took a bite out of it. The second she tasted it, a flood of memories filled her head. Her eyes widened at the familiar taste, the taste that she absolutely loved.

Without even blinking, she took another bite, taking in every texture and flavor that hit her along with the long lost memories. Before the girls knew it, she had finished the loaf and had a smile on her face.

“Knew she’d remember as soon as she ate it,” Rion said.

“True that,” Nao agreed.

Rena licked her lips. “That was so good!”

“So, who’s next?”

“I’ll go,” Airi said, “My name’s Furukawa Airi and I always loved seeing your face when you hug me. Because that’s how close we were.”

“You always thought Airin was the cutest member in SKE,” Akane stated.

“Even though I am older than you and Churi by two years.”

“Speaking of,” Akane then got closer. “I wanted to talk as well.”

“Go on then.”

“I’m Takayanagi Akane, but like I said before, you always used to call me ‘Chu-chan’ because you and I were really close friends.”

“You two used to go to Disneyland together a lot because you both like Disney.”

“So, did you and Airi fight for my attention?”

The two looked at each other.

“Well…”

“More than us, the one who always wanted your attention most was Jurina.”

Rena looked at Jurina, who was just shyly smiling.

“It’s true, admit it, Jurina-chan.”

“Well… guilty as charged, I guess.”

Just then, Rena remembered something she forgot about for a second.

“That’s right!” She reached into her bag and pulled out the present she had gotten for her from England. “Here!”

“Eh..?!” Jurina stared a bit surprised.

“I remembered when I was at the airport, that when I left, I promised I’d bring you back a gift. So, here,” Rena handed Jurina the present. “Open it.”

Jurina nodded and unwrapped the present, revealing the most beautiful music box she had ever seen.

“This is beautiful…”

She opened it up, and when she saw the sun and moon, she smiled. She remembered how she and Rena always saw themselves like the sun and moon, and it warmed her heart. She turned the key and watched the music box start to spin and play the melody.

The others soon realized it sounded similar to the song as well. Airi explained to Rena that “Bukiyo Taiyou” was one of their songs, while Jurina and the others proceeded to hum and sing along with the tune.

The girls started dancing, Jurina and the others helping Rena as she started remembering some of the moves. Rena was smiling and having fun as she was re-learning the dance.

However, Rena suddenly started feeling a pain in her head. She stopped and stood still, taking in the pain. The others soon realized their senpai was in pain and stopped. Nao stopped the music and came to Rena’s side as the woman fell to her knees, clutching her head.

“Rena,” Jurina knelt in front of her. “Did you remember something?”

“It hurts… I…”

Rena felt her mind become overflowed with images from her past. It was all too much for her and she passed out on the floor, startling her kouhai even more.

Jurina looked at Akane and Airi. “Call Masana.”

------------------------------

Rena fell into her dream world again and was pulled back into her memories. Then she saw a vision popping up in front of her. She saw Jurina come up to her and cling to her arm, whilst she saw Akane and Airi taking pictures.

“Rena~” She looked as Jurina called out to her, puckering her lips as if wanting a kiss.

Rena felt her cheeks blush.

“This is classic,” Akane said, as she started to film a video on her phone.

“J-Jurina…” Rena tried to push the girl away as she tiptoed closer, but it ended up she turned her head and caused their lips to meet.

As the two cheered, Rena blushed even more as she pulled away, hearing Jurina giggling.

“I got Rena’s first kiss~”

“Mou, Jurina!”

She was then pulled into a different memory. She was remembering herself sleeping while on a train. When the train arrived at the station, she stepped out and felt like she had been whisked away to another world. There were flowers blooming everywhere, it was the most amazing sight. She spent some time relaxing in the flowery field before the train came back.

She smiled brightly and went back into the train. She felt herself transition into another memory. She was in a cafe, looking at a scale model of trains on a track, running along the tiny rails.

Rena sat down with Airi and read manga with her, the both of them talking about what they liked and other things like anime and games. All while they talked, Rena felt her heart flutter when Airi smiled or looked at her.

A few seconds later, she found herself somewhere else. She was holding hands with Akane and walking through Disneyland. The two of them didn’t have a care in the world and just spent time together in the land of dreams.

Another memory came and now she saw herself as a child, in a bakery. Her mother handed her a fresh loaf of melonpan and Rena happily ate it. It then showed herself as an adult, and she was still eating melonpan like she did as a child. Even then, she had a wide smile whenever she ate the bread because the flavor was something she loved most dearly.

“Rena~ if you eat all those melonpan, you’re going to turn into one,” she saw someone say, but she couldn’t recognize her face.

“If so, I’ll eat you!” Marika then said jokingly, causing the three girls to laugh.

As the memory faded to white again, she felt herself being pulled back into reality. She heard voices around her and slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was an unfamiliar woman hovered over her.

“Welcome back, Rena,” the woman said with a kind smile.

Rena looked around and saw she was still backstage, the others sitting around the room talking with each other and doing different things.

“The others told me the situation. You don’t remember me, do you?” the woman then asked. Rena shook her head. “It’s okay. I understand as a doctor.”

“Doctor..?”

“Yup. The others called me here because you collapsed.”

“What’s your name?”

“Masana. Oya Masana. Sound familiar?”

Rena’s eyebrows furrowed. “A bit… Were you-?”

“Yes. I was a member. Not anymore. How are you feeling?”

“Still a bit dizzy… What was that?”

“You were remembering a painful memory.”

“Painful..?”

“Not emotionally or mentally, but physically. The others told me you all were dancing to Pinocchio Gun. Years back, when we first started learning the song, it was hard for you. You collapsed during rehearsal because of back pain.”

“Really…?”

“Yeah. It was pretty rough back then.”

“So… the reason I collapsed just now was?”

“Your mind took in a lot of information at once and overdid it. You fainted so your brain could rest and take in the information slowly. It’s common for people who suffered amnesia due to head trauma.”

Rena nodded. “I do remember, I fainted a lot in the hospital because I felt dizzy and my head hurt. When I was asleep, I was seeing my own memories.”

“That’s completely normal. It’s a good sign, even. It means you’re starting to remember who you are.”

“So, Oya-san… er, Masana-san?”

“Masana is fine.”

“Masana… why was the first memory I ever recalled was Jurina? It could’ve been any memory of anyone.. So why just Jurina?”

“It’s because you two have a strong bond. And besides, Jurina has an attachment to you.”

“Attachment?”

“She loves you very much. She was always with you and would act spoiled with you, and to be honest, that love is probably more than just platonic. And she always tried to get your attention. Heck, when you started Twitter, you were the first she followed.”

“She loves me that much?”

“Yes. So it would make sense that your attachment to one another is still there, conscious or unconscious, with or without memory.”

“Is that so…”

Masana patted Rena’s head, smiling.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m certain you’ll remember everything again. The best thing you can do for now is interact with the people who know you so it can stimulate your memory. Back in England, you probably didn’t have a lot of memories come back because no one knew who you were and you couldn’t talk to them. But here, there are lots of people who know you and can help jog your memory. Former members who had graduated and know you very well.”

“Do you really think that’ll help, Masana..?”

“I didn’t become a doctor for no reason. I wanted to help people. And besides, you’re one of my closest friends, Rena-chan.”

“Do you know where the other former members are?”

Masana thought for a moment. “I can give you the addresses to where some of them are.”

“That would be great.”

“Alright. I’ll write them down for you. Go talk to the others for a while longer.”

“Okay…” Rena slowly got up. “Thank you, Masana.”

Rena turned around and found everyone either playing on their phones or talking to each other. Jurina was the first to notice she was awake and immediately went to her side.

“Rena-chan,” Jurina hugged Rena, looking up at her. “You okay? You had us all worried there.”

“I’m fine, Jurina.” Rena broke the hug, reassuring the girl. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Eh? What?”

“What was our relationship like?”

“Oh... well..” Jurina rubbed the back of her head, blushing a bit. “You and I.. We were close…”

“How close?”

“Well… I guess we weren’t as close to each other, as like… You and Churi or you and Airi... But, we had our own relationship.”

“What do you mean?”

“You were incredibly close with Churi and Airin.. Always doing stuff with them… I mean, we did stuff together, too, but not as much. Especially after I became busy and we eventually were put on different teams. We became more and more distant and…”

“And?”

“...I missed you.”

“Eh..?”

Tears started forming in Jurina’s eyes. “Not just changing teams… not just you graduating… I missed you when you left for England.. I missed you when you were gone for all that time…”

“J-Jurina…”

“When everyone I trusted started leaving as well… It made me lonely… One by one, as they all left, I got lonelier… All I could think about is when you’d come home..!”

Rena simply hugged her back, comforting her as she cried more like a child. It broke her heart hearing Jurina cry in such a way.

She suddenly got a flash of another memory. It was a situation similar to this. Jurina was hugging Rena while crying and shaking. She kept repeating “I’m sorry” for some reason Rena couldn’t remember, but hearing Jurina cry left a tinge of pain in her chest. As she came back into reality, she heard the girl’s sniffles and looked down.

Jurina looked at her with poor puppy eyes, tears staining her cheeks. Her eyes were so sad, all of it made Rena feel even more regret for leaving her. She pat the girl’s head, parting the hug and smiling at her.

“Don’t worry, Jurina. I’m not going anywhere.”

The younger girl bit her lip anxiously, slowly backing away. “Sorry…”

“Eh?”

“I’m sorry, I burst my feelings out like this…” Jurina quickly wiped her tears away. “I shouldn’t do that even though I know you don’t remember everything.”

“But…”

“C-Come on, guys, it’s not about sadness anymore~” Jurina said with the best smile she could give. “We’ll be performing soon! So.. let’s show Rena we can give the best performances in Nagoya!”

“Ah, that’s right!” Rara smiled. “Rena-san, will you come to today’s show? Maybe it’ll help you remember what it was like being in SKE!”

“That’s a great idea!” Haruka agreed.

“We’ll give Rena-chan an extra special seat,” Jurina said. “I’m sure Yuasa-san can work a spot in for you. What do you think, Rena-chan?”

“She says it in an annoying way, but she’s right,” Akane and Airi said simultaneously.

“Yosh! Let’s practice hard so we can give Rena-san the best performance!” Ryouha said.

As the girls got up, ready to practice again, Masana approached Rena again. She handed her a paper slip that had some names and addresses on where they would be, as well as phone numbers to contact them.

“Airi-chan and Akane-chan will help you. I have to get back to work and Jurina has to stay here.” Masana said, patting Rena on the shoulder.

“Yep, we sure will,” Akane replied, “Isn’t that right, Airin?”

“Yeah. If it’s for Rena, we’ll do anything.”

“Thank you,” Rena smiled.

“Alright, who should we go see first?” Akane said as the three looked at the addresses. “Ah, Akarin! She’s really close to here, so let’s go see her first!”

“Sounds good.”

-----------------------------

With no further delay, after saying goodbye to the members, the trio started heading down the street until they reached a dance studio. When they looked inside, they saw a young instructor teaching some young hopefuls a dance routine.

What Rena found amazing was that the instructor was incredibly flexible. Even though the dance was cool and intense pop, she danced almost like a ballerina.

“There she is.”

“Who is that..?”

“Suda Akari. She was formerly Team E’s leader when you left. She graduated very recently and has been taking up dance. She does part-time instructing in this studio.”

“And as you can see, she does not disappoint.”

Once the girl ended her dance, she happened to have glanced towards the window where she saw the three. After staring for a bit, she said something to her students and started walking to the entrance as the young dancers started stretching and practicing some of the routine.

Akari opened the door and looked at them. “Come in.”

“Akarin, you have no idea how happy we are to see you,” Akane said. “But right now, we have important things to do.”

Once they got inside, they explained the whole situation to Akari.

“Oh gosh… I’m sorry to hear that, Rena-san…”

“No, it’s fine. It was no one’s fault to begin with.”

“So, what is it I need to do? There’s so much I can say, but I don’t know where to start.”

“Well… did we have a good friendship?” Rena asked.

“It… I guess you could say that--”

“You imitated her once,” Akane interrupted, “It was pretty accurate and funny. It made everyone crack up when you did it.”

“Hey!” Akari pouted.

“Admit it, Akarin! It’s true!”

Airi seemed to nod in agreement to Akane’s statement, not wanting to get involved with their mini argument.

“...F-fine.. I guess it was pretty close.”

As Akane was laughing, Akari couldn’t help but look over at Rena. Instead of laughing or getting embarrassed, her facial expression was blank and unchanged.

She let out a sigh and smiled bitterly.

“God, why now…” she spoke softly as she laid her head against her knees.

“Eh?” Rena noticed the girl’s change in attitude and became worried.

“We can’t even talk about things like that… How am I supposed to talk to you..?” Her voice sounded shaky, like she was near tears.

Rena suddenly felt a tinge of pain in her chest. Seeing the girl’s depressed expression was hurting her. She couldn’t remember clearly, but she felt deep down that those tears of sadness didn’t suit her.

Seeing the situation, Akane and Airi thought it be best to leave the two alone to converse. Rena sat closer to Akari and tried to comfort the girl.

“I’m sorry I forgot you… This shouldn’t have happened like this.”

“I’m honestly jealous of Jurina… You remembered her so easily.. But you still don’t remember me… It’s unfair…” Akari said. Even though her words seemed angry, tears fell down her cheeks.

She then suddenly hugged Rena, crying.

“Please… tell me.. Is the Rena-san I know gone forever..? Will you ever be back to the way you once were?”

Rena didn’t know how to respond. She didn’t know the kind of person she was before, so she didn’t know how she could comfort the girl and give her some kind of last remaining hope.

“I’m sorry… I’ll make sure I remember everyone.”

“Please do. I miss the old you.”

-----------------------------

The next person they went to visit was Yagami Kumi, who was currently working in the entertainment industry. They were able to meet with her at a local cafe and once they had arrived, she smiled a bright smile.

“Rena~ it’s been a while,” Kumi smiled. “Ah, don’t worry. I’m aware you have amnesia. So, let’s start fresh. I’m Kumi. I was a fellow 1st gen member with you~.”

“Nice to meet you. Er, well, nice to see you again.”

“Yeah,” Kumi simply chuckled, “It’s been about… 5 years since I’ve seen you, Churi and Airin…”

“It’s been going steady. How about you guys? The photography business and the illustration career?”

“Everything’s gone well,” Akane smiled.

“But right now, our main focus is Rena. Talk about some past memories you’ve had with her.”

“Hmmm…. All I can remember is Rena’s acting. It always left an impact.”

“My acting?”

“Yeah! You were an amazing actress!”

“Especially Gekikara… She always gave me shivers when she acts like Gekikara.”

“Gekikara?” Rena raised an eyebrow. That name was unfamiliar to her.

“Basically, there was a drama you, Jurina and some of the others were in, called Majisuka Gakuen. You played a yankee named Gekikara, who was very dangerous.”

“Y-yankee?”

“Basically, a delinquent.”

“Your character was very scary. However, in Season 2, she actually had some very heartfelt moments, as well. She was a lot more than who she seemed to be in the beginning. It made her such a memorable character~”

“Even in concerts, if we did a Majisuka skit, the crowd would go NUTS when you came out as Gekikara!”

“Seriously?” Rena’s eyes widened. She was shocked hearing that she could portray such a character.

“Not just in dramatic stuff, but comedy, as well,” Kumi also brought up. “Do you guys remember Magical Radio?”

“Ahh~” Akane and Airi smiled, memories being brought back.

“That was great!” Akane said with a wide smile.

“Magical Radio..?”

“It was a comedy drama on the lives of a group of people working a small radio station. Churi was a radio personality who co-hosted with Jurina.”

“I was an AD~” Kumi smiled.

“And you were the director of the show! But you had some pretty eccentric moments.” Kumi and Airi started chuckling from Akane’s statement.

“Eccentric? How?”

“All I can say, is that you were… well, pretty goofy.”

“You would keep breaking into these sudden monologues.”

“And when you go to sing, it turns out that Nao would sing instead and you would just adlib on top of her singing. Kinda like backup cheering. Hahaha.”

“Ehh?!”

“Then there was that whole arc in Season 2 where you were going around the world being chased by bad guys who wanted a special tape. You went to India, America, Hawaii…”

“Seriously?! That show sounds crazy.”

“Oh no! You want crazy?!” Airi then mentioned. “One of the most recent roles you did after graduating was Kaede from Nietzsche-sensei!”

“AHHH!!! That! That was hilarious! Hahahaha!” Akane laughed.

“I saw it too! It surprised me!” Kumi covered her mouth. “I thought I had seen the wackiest Rena could get, but I was wrong.”

“W-what kind of role was it?”

“Basically, you were head over heels for one of the main characters.”

“So much, you pretty much did ANYTHING to try and win his affection.”

“Nothing really worked, though,” Kumi added at the end of Akane and Airi’s statements. “It even made Yahoo news.”

“Oh yeah! The episode where Kaede was hiding in the trash…! I saw that article…”

There was someone just sat at her desk in her dorm room as the door opened.

“Manatsu-chan!” Akane chirped in as she and the other two entered.

“C-Churi-chan…”

“I’m sorry about this one, Manatsu… I told her not to, but she said it was to help Rena,” Airi said, before slapping Akane across the back of the head, silencing her.

“Rena-san…” Manatsu smiled when she saw her former senpai step in.

“It’s kinda complicated, but she’s got amnesia and we’re trying to help her remember.”

“E-Eh…?”

“That’s why we came for you. We know you’re on your second year of your psychology masters, but we kinda came to you for your advice.”

“Oh, okay,” Manatsu looked at Rena with a sad smile on her face, “You might not remember me, Rena-san, but my name is Mukaida Manatsu. I loved the way you were supportive of me, Churi-chan, Airin and the other kouhai that were under your shadow….”

“O-Oh…?”

“Aside from Airi, the other second generation member you were stuck onto like a koala was Manatsu,” Akane replied, “She was like the cutest member back in the day, although now, we have members like Egochan, Rara and other 5th, 6th and 7th gen members.”

“For a long time, we watched you, Jurina and the other first generation members on stage, whilst we were still kenkyuusei… It was an amazing sight to see to be honest,” Manatsu added, “The memories are coming back~”

“Yeah~ Hey, do you two remember performing Ai no Kazu…?” Airi asked Akane and Manatsu, “That was a really nice song to sing…”

“Oh my God… The memories of performing it are coming back now…”

“Ai no Kazu… that sounds familiar,” Rena said.

“Wait, let’s sing it. Maybe it can bring back some of your memories,” Airi suggested.

“Un! Good idea!”

The three cleared their throats and looked at each other with smiles before they started singing.

Soon, Rena started feeling the familiar melody play in her mind. Then, she started seeing a vision. She started seeing a few familiar faces on a stage practicing a dance, whilst listening to the familiar tune of the song she had just heard. Unknowingly, she started singing with them.

“Hey, Manatsu, do you know what might’ve triggered her to sing along…?” Akane asked.

“Hmm… There might be some connection to the memory storing section of her brain, that was severely damaged by the accident she must’ve suffered. It must’ve needed some triggers to allow Rena-san to remember some things, like the song for example.”

“That makes sense…”

“And for different people, those triggers are different. For Rena-san, it must be singing certain songs. I got a call from Masana-san that she collapsed after you guys sang Pinocchio Gun, so I started doing research on it and I came to that conclusion.”

“So, music is what’s bringing back her memories?”

“Most likely,” Manatsu replied, looking back at her notes, “But I also heard from Masana-san that the first person she remembered… was Jurina-san..?”

“Yes, but why do you ask?”

“Well, I was asked to do some research and some real life analysis on the correlation of regaining memories with people of specific relationships with those affected with amnesia for coursework, so I wanted to help you guys as much as I could,” Manatsu replied, “It’s also good practice for the future.”

“Okay. What do you need us to do?”

“Just try and reference Jurina as much as you can and make notes on her behaviour change and give those notes to me.”

“Alright… what are you going to do with those notes…?”

“Just email them to me, I’ll just do some analysis and then I’ll write some reports on my findings.”

“Okay…”

“Hey, I think I know who we can go see next,” Airi said. “Two to be exact.”

----------------------------

The next people they went to visit were Mieko and Yuka, who were both at a recording studio. Mieko was recording for a single, whilst Yuka was waiting to record for an anime. Once they arrived, Akane went to give Mieko a loving hug.

“Churi, it’s been too long! How’s the hubby?” Mieko said as she broke the hug.

“That’s right. It’s Rena. We brought her here because we need you two to help.”

“With what?” Mieko asked, curiously.

“She has amnesia. We need you to help her recover her lost memories.”

“O-Oh…”

“Yeah, we were wondering if you could tell her what you remember about her that most,” Airi replied.

“Well, being in a recording studio, the first thing that comes to mind is when we sang together in SKE,” Nishishi mentioned.

“Ahh~ those were the days~” Mieko said nostalgically.

“Rena’s voice was pretty to listen to, as well. But, she never had confidence in herself. Haha.”

“Eh? Is that true?” Rena said, a bit surprised. Actually, when she was in England, she had no problem singing in front of others. She would even sing to herself without her conscious knowing.

“Yeah. Even though you were so good, you had zero confidence. But, then you had some sort of realization.”

“Realization? What was it?”

“You started to like singing after you did your single with Charan Po Rantan.”

“Oh! That’s a good song~” Akane agreed.

“Charan Po..?” Rena furrowed her eyebrows. “That’s a strange name for a band.”

“They were your favorite artists. It’s a strange name, I know, but their songs were really catchy.”

“And the song that you did with them was really good. It was the theme song to one of your dramas too~”

“Heck, I still can’t get it out of my head.” Akane chuckled. “Shabon shabon shabon~”

“Shabon…” Rena blinked. That name sounded familiar to her. A bit too familiar.

“Do you recognize it?”

“Somewhat.”

“Lucky enough, I have it on my iPod,” Airi replied, taking it out of her pocket. “Take a listen~”

Once she started the song and Rena could hear her own voice singing the first few notes of the song, everyone had smiled and started joining in, singing along in a hyper, somewhat goofy fashion.

Rena couldn’t help but chuckle at her friends’ actions. However, she, too, found the memories start to come back and started joining in on their goofy karaoke.

“Ah~ Those were the days~” Akane said as she and the others giggled.

“I wish we could go back to that time,” Mieko said.

“Oi, now you REALLY sound like an old woman.”

“Hey!”

“Hahahahaha!”

-----------------------------

Jurina’s POV

“Only an hour left…”

After practicing for the stage performance, the girls had already head to the dressing room to get ready. I was back in the practice room, thinking about what had been going on.

I’m so happy that Rena’s finally back and relieved she’s okay… But I felt something strange when I was hugging her. I haven’t hugged her in so long, it felt different for some reason. I closed my eyes, reimagining the event while hugging myself.

What changed..?

*Knock knock*

“Jurina? You in here?” I heard Ryouha call for me as she entered the room.

“Yeah, what’s up, Ryouha?” I asked as I opened my eyes again.

“It’s almost time. You better hurry and get dressed.”

“Oh. Right…” I got up, walking with Ryouha out of the practice room.

-----------------------------

Third Person POV

“Haa~ today was a long day,” Akane sighed as she, Rena, and Airi were resting in front of a crepe stand.

“Rena, have you remembered anything?”

“Yes, actually. I’ve started remembering a lot,” Rena said with a smile.

“That’s great!”

“I’m sure once you see SKE performing at the theater, the rest of your memories will come back in no time!”

The three ate their crepes happily, until Rena could hear whispers from the crowd of people around them.

“Hey, isn’t that Matsui Rena?”

“Oh my gosh, it is!”

“Matsui Rena-chan?!”

The two others soon noticed that there were fans staring with surprise. They even saw a few taking pictures.

“Uh-oh~”

“Maybe we should go.”

The three got up and started making their way through the busy streets to get to the theater. However, Rena accidentally ran into someone, causing her to get lost in the crowd.

“Oh no..!” She looked around, trying to find Akane and Airi, but wasn’t able to find them in a swarm of people. She started to panic, her breath quickening. “What do I do..?!”

She bolted from the crowd, not seeing which way she was going. She stopped for a moment, leaning against the wall to catch her breath. But when she looked around, she found herself somewhere unfamiliar.

“W-where am I..?” she looked around, seeing people just going about their day. But no Akane or Airi. “Which way was the theater..? Which way did I…”

She held her head, walking aimlessly trying to find her way back to the theater. But she just felt she was only getting more lost.

“Ah! That’s right! I’ll call them!” Rena reached in her pocket for her phone, but then suddenly remembered. “Oh… my cell phone.. broke during the accident. And I don’t even know their numbers…”

Rena fell to the ground, hugging her knees. She held her head down, trying to fight back the tears that were desperate to fall down. She could just imagine Akane and Airi in a panic to try and find her… and Jurina’s sad expression if she couldn’t make it in time.

“Jurina… I have to keep my promise…” she pursed her lips, standing back up.

“Holy cow! Matsui Rena?!”

She turned around and saw a young man with black hair approach her.

“Um.. I’m a really big fan! Do you mind if I shake your hand?”

“I-I…” Rena looked around, remembering she had other things to do. “I, erm…”

“Aya..?” Rena blinked at the name, staring at the girl more. “That sounds familiar… Do I know her?”

“Sorry, Rena-chan. But, more importantly, it’s so great to see you again. You finally arrived back to Japan?”

“Um, yes,” Rena answered.

“It’s been too long! I was worried about you when you suddenly disappeared from social media.”

“R-right.”

“Mou, Aya-chan, I’m too jealous of you! You two were in the same group together for 5 years!”

“Yeah, those were good times,” Aya chuckled. “So, where are you headed, Rena?”

“Oh, uh.. The theater. I was going to go see the girls perform since I got back.”

“Hey, we’re heading that way, too! We can go together!”

“Okay.” The three started walking, when Rena chuckled noticing a certain fashion choice of Aya’s. “What’s with the shark earrings?”

“Just something that I’ve gotten into recently.”

“Wow. I didn’t think that’s something you’d be into.”

Aya just laughed.

“Um, Matsui-san,” Kei spoke again. “Could you tell me what it was like in London?”

“Oh, it was great. But a lot different from here. I feel like I’m home again…”

“Well, you are!” Aya commented, the two chuckling.

“I know, but… it’s a little more complicated than just that.”

“Eh?” Aya looked at her confused for a moment, but soon it hit her. She had gotten a text about what happened from Airi. “Oh… right.”

“Yeah…”

“Do you… remember me?”

Rena looked at Aya, who looked back at her with worry.

“A little…”

Aya smiled. “A little, huh? Well, that’s still something.”

“It’s progressing.”

As they talked, they soon arrived at the theater, where Akane and Airi were waiting. When they saw Rena, they both heaved a sigh of relief.

“Oh thank God!”

“We actually thought you got kidnapped or something!”

“Don’t worry. Our baby’s breath is perfectly safe,” Aya said. “You enjoy the show, Rena. And I hope you get all your memories back soon.”

“Thanks, Aya-chan.”

“Come on! Let’s go,” Airi took Rena’s hand and they hurried inside.

“Hey, slow down, Airin!” Akane said, following behind. “We still have about 10 minutes! We don’t need to rush!”

As they got in, Rena looked around. She was in the theater and she felt memories from long ago coming back to her. The days of when she would arrive with her fellow members in this familiar place, a place that felt like a second home. She smiles as she could hear the sound of fans murmuring amongst themselves.

The three took their seats and waited excitedly as the show began. The crowd cheered as the girls walked onstage, taking their positions as the background music began to play.

“Let’s go~!”

“OOOOH!!!”

As the song played, Rena sat and clapped quietly while the two beside her cheered along with the rest of the crowd.

Everything was going smoothly. The girls were giving their all to make sure Rena would get her memories back. Among the crowd, Jurina found Rena and looked only at her, giving her brightest smile and singing from her heart. From where she sat, Rena could see a girl as bright as the sunshine.

“Rena-chan!”

“..!” Rena gasped silently as a sharp pain hit her head. She rubbed her temple, the sounds of the music and people around her starting to fade.

Akane happened to notice her friend was in pain, getting Airi’s attention on her, as well.

“Rena?”

“T-too… much…!”

Rena slowly got up, running out of the theater. Jurina saw Rena bolt out, holding her head in pain. She lost her smile, and feeling immense worry for the girl, she completely forgot about the performance and ran off to find her. The other members were confused and worried, but they had to go on with the show, or the fans would be confused and worried, as well.

“Rena!” Jurina ran out, trying to find Rena. She eventually found her, crawled up into a ball while holding her head. She quickly ran to her side. “Rena! What’s wrong?! Did you remember something bad?”

“J-Jurina…” Rena looked at her with a pained expression. “W-what.. were we..?”

“Eh? What do you mean..?”

“What were… y-your feelings.. for me..? D-did you...?”

“Did I what?!”

“Did you… love me?”

“I…” Jurina thought about it, looking Rena in the eyes, not knowing what to say, She bit her lip, “I do love you, Rena. You’re an important person to me.”

Rena was rushed to the hospital after collapsing in the SKE theater. Jurina sat worriedly as her legs trembled. She couldn’t process the sounds around her; all her mind could focus on was Rena. She didn’t notice a figure walk to her side, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Jurina?”

The girl suddenly jolted up as she was brought back to reality, seeing the person beside her.

“Churi…”

The two hugged; Akane could feel the girl shivering in fear. She rubbed her back, trying to comfort her.

“Churi… I’m so scared..!”

“I know… We all are. Not just for Rena, but for you too.” Akane then broke the hug, looking at her with a worried gaze. “When you suddenly ran off like that, we all started wondering where you could’ve gone.”

“I-I’m sorry…”

“Don’t worry. We understand that you were upset about Rena. But all the other members and fans who came to the stage were confused and worried, too.”

“I know... but..!”

“But nothing!” Akane then said. “The fans… they’ll need an explanation. And the members will need an apology. As a leader, you need to be responsible. Not just for them, but for yourself.”

Jurina silently nodded.

They then saw Airi approach them.

“The nurse says she’s okay. But she’s going to have to rest here for a few days. Her mind overloaded with a lot of information, so she needs to let herself process it all.”

“Okay…”

------------------------

“To all the fans, staff members, and fellow members… I’m sorry I caused you trouble!” Jurina bowed while the press filmed her actions.

The other SKE members watched from a distance as Jurina stood with a guilt-ridden expression.

“I acted without thinking and made all of you confused and worried… I shouldn’t have acted so impulsively and irresponsibly. As the remaining first generation member, I must act like a leader to the group.. For that…”

Suddenly, she thought back to Rena. She remembered how responsible she was as a leader and how she acted like a proper, motherly figure toward the junior members.

In truth, SKE was at its best when Rena was there. When she was in the group, she knew how to lead the young members and took responsibility for when things had gone wrong. After Rena left, all that responsibility to be a leader was put on Jurina’s shoulders.

She loved SKE, so she didn’t mind it… but, she was lonely. Everyone who she was closest with within the group had left her, and now she’s the only one left of her generation. She couldn’t lie to herself, she couldn’t hide her true feelings.

“I’m… sorry…” she spoke as tears fought to escape her eyes. She shut her eyes tight, bowing to them again. “I will do better as SKE’s leader, so forgive me for my actions today!”

Once the press conference was over, Jurina went backstage to where the other members were.

“Jurina-san…”

“Everyone.. I’m very sorry..!” she bowed to the girls, her head still hanging low with regret. “I shouldn’t have left the theater without warning… I was completely disconsiderate about the fans and my job as an idol..! And all of you, too!”

“Jurina-san, it’s okay. We understand you were just worried about Rena-san’s health.”

“That’s right! All we want is for Rena-san to be okay and you to be happy.”

Jurina raised her head, seeing the faces of the girls. They all had empathetic expressions toward her, sharing the same worry as Jurina.

“Rena-san will be okay,” Nao said. “We just need to be hopeful. That’s all we can do for now.”

“R-right…”

----------------------------

Rena was in a maze, lost searching for her memory. She walked around a city with blurred faces, trying to find the most important person in her memory.

Jurina.

She chased after the figure, but she only seemed to get further and further away. No matter how hard she tried, even if she called to her loudly, she was unable to reach her.

Jurina..! Jurina!

Her memory of Jurina was fleeting, getting farther from her grasp.

With all the strength she had, she bolted forward, stretching her hand out as far as she could…

….

Rena woke up in the hospital, groggy as she slowly sat up in the bed. She looked around, confused.

“What am I doing here?”

-----------------------------

The next day…

Jurina and some other SKE members ran into the hospital, seeing Akane and Airi already there.

The two older girls lead their kouhai up the elevator. Jurina was also excited and nervous, wondering how Rena would react to seeing her. With those feelings, they made it to the floor where Rena was sitting in the hospital bed.

“Honestly, Nishishi, I’m fine,” she said, talking to her fellow 1st gen member on her cell phone. “They just wanted to keep me for checkups, but I’ll be discharged this afternoon.”

“Rena,” Akane called out, showing her that her junior members had all shown up.

“Okay, I’ll see you later. Promise.”

After she hung up, everyone ran in, happily hugging Rena and asking how she felt.

“Rena-san, you’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”

“You remember everything, right? You remember who we are?”

“Mou, guys, I’m telling you, I’m fine.”

“Well, when we last saw you, you weren’t fully here,” Akari said, some of the members giggling.

“Here, your favorite,” Nao handed her the melonpan, to which the young woman happily took and started eating. “Yup, she definitely remembers she likes melonpan.”

As they laughed, Jurina then approached her, Rena looking at her for a second.

“Hi, Rena…”

Jurina was afraid. A part of her worried that Rena would look at her, unable to recognize her.

But, thankfully…

“Hey. It’s been a while, Jurina.”

The puppy girl smiled in relief. Everyone else also felt happy that the girl had recognized the one she was closest with.

“It’s been more than a while, baka Rena,” Jurina teased. “...I missed you.”

Rena didn’t hesitate to hug Jurina, the girl hugging back as she fully embraced her warmth.

“I missed you, too. I thought about you every day I was in England.”

“I was starting to doubt it for a while…” Jurina sniffled. “I was worried you forgot about me.”

“Jurina, I told you, I can never forget you,” the older girl pet her head. “I had no doubt that all that you’d forget me either. I know you too well.”

“Trust me,” Akane spoke up, “You were the only thing on her mind.”

“That’s not true!”

Everyone giggled as Jurina pouted, Rena just petting her head again.

“I’m just happy you’re here again… We all are.”

“Yeah. Welcome back, our baby’s breath,” Airi commented.

“Okaeri, Rena-san!”

“I’m home.”

------------------------

Half a year later…

“Woah! Akane, look!” Daichi called his wife as she was busy making dinner. She looked at the TV and saw news footage of a new drama that was set to premiere.

The leads of that drama were none other than Rena and Jurina! It was a sight Akane hadn’t seen in years.

“Amazing! Looks like Jurina’s wish came true.”

“The new summer drama airing this July on TBS, ‘Ane no iu koto’, stars SKE48 ace, and winner of last year’s sousenkyo, Matsui Jurina, and her former teammate and world renowned actress, Matsui Rena, acting as siblings. This marks 7 and a half years since the two have acted in a drama together!”

Thank you very much for finishing the story.The story has had a happy endingAnd fulfilling a dream of Jurina acting with Rena.Today ... it is an impossible dream, or so I think. But of course it would be a dream for WMatsui fans.